Recent Posts by Hugh Janus

January 06

Český lakros: (Czech lacrosse) Before the [1989 Velvet] revolution, Czech Boy Scouts, inspired by illustrations of American Indians at play, fashioned their own sticks and rules of the game... "...It was created in the late sixties by people interested in the life of American Native people but they didn't have contact to international federation, to international lacrosse bodies. So they created their special own rules..." "...Played with very small sticks closely resembling the original Indian sticks. This had come about because a Professor at one of their colleges was very keen on the North American Indian way of life and had formed an association who emulated this way of life during the summer months, one of the activities being the Indian game of Lacrosse; this game was very popular among the young people and was often played in the country at weekends when the flat dwelling of Prague emigrated from the city."

July 09

Barrett Green sues: the Washington NFL team, Gregg Williams, and Robert Royal for fostering and participating in the bounty program that encouraged the "unusual, outrageous, and... obvious cheap shot" that ended his career.

September 17

Tom Sims, skate- and snowboard pioneer, died Sept. 12 of cardiac arrest. He was 61: As a young star in the 1970's SoCal skateboarding circuit, Sims was a tireless promoter of the sport, building the first longboards for skating and founding Sims Skateboards, who made the first lightweight laminated skateboards and managed the Sims skateboard team, sponsoring rising stars like Stacy Peralta, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Kevin Staab, and the late Jeff Philips (it's all a little complicated, hard feelings all around, as the above links hint). Sims' attention moved to the slopes and his company morphed into Sims Snowboards, making the first metal edged snowboard, the first snowboarding half pipe, the first freestyle snowboard, the first snowboards designed specifically for women riders, and the first pro-model snowboard. Here he is in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill riding down the mountain on a snowmobile ski. Peers, friends, and former riders reflect.

June 22

December 01

Kisenosato promoted to ozeki: Sumo's rising star Kisenosato has been promoted to the elite rank of ozeki after a tremendous run of 60 wins in 90 bouts over the past 12 months. He seems to be the only rikishi who has Mongolian yokozunaHakuho's number, having beaten the grand champion several times. Here's a 2006 interview with Kisenosato, and for a bonus, Hakuho vs. Asashoryu, splitting the world in half.

October 31

October 22

Swedish hockey fans delay match with dildo downpour: "We'd also heard mention of it, but we decided that it would only be worse if we went out and told the fans they were absolutely not allowed to throw dildos on the ice," said AIK club head Mats Hedenstrm to the newspaper.

August 22

April 17

"Fight Money":: In Japanese baseball many teams give each player a $1,000 bonus for a win. Yankees left-hander Kei Igawa says, "It's like bait." Would it fly in MLB? Fukuoka Hawks reliever C.J. Nitkowski says, "It's ashtray change at best."

December 21

August 16

Lonnie, we thought we knew ye: His breadth and his touch were enough for Lonnie Baxter to shoulder Maryland to an NCAA championship, but his lack of height turned his NBA career to an unsurprising bust. His getting busted this morning on weapons charges is a bit more of a surprise.